Lives Resolved
by pixieelegance
Summary: In an alternate reality, Voyager was unsuccessful in rescuing Janeway and Chakotay at the end of "Resolutions." Instead, the former captain and first officer continue to live out their lives on New Earth. (A multi-chapter story, with new chapters being added somewhat regularly for now.)
1. Chapter 1

_In an alternate reality, Voyager was unsuccessful in retrieving the vaccine from the Vidiians and rescuing the Captain and Chakotay at the end of_ Resolutions _. Tuvok continued to lead the crew home to the Alpha Quadrant, in as logical a manner as possible. Meanwhile, Janeway and Chakotay continued their lives on New Earth. This story picks up right at the end of the big "defining parameters" conversation near the end of Resolutions. Everything coincides with the canon timeline, albeit with new fresh scenes, until near the end of part one, when they go inside to look at the boat designs but Voyager never contacts them._

Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other across the table, their fingers interlaced, a couple tears running down her cheek. She was outwardly calm despite the tears, but inside she was reeling. When she'd come out of the half-closed-off sleeping quarters, after escaping his enticing presence on pretense of needing to go to bed, she'd expected them to decide that he could never again massage her shoulders, that maybe they would avoid touching each other at all, to prevent them turning to physical comfort and then regretting it later.

She had most certainly _not_ expected this thinly veiled confession of love. Love? Was that truly what he was saying? It certainly seemed like it. At the very least, it was a confession of extreme devotion.

He reached his other hand out and wiped the tears away. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

Instinctively, she leaned her face in and nuzzled his hand. "No, don't apologize. That story was probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

Encouraged, he rose from his seat, shuffling his way around the end of the table, fingers still laced with hers, other hand still on her cheek, eyes in constant contact with hers. Once he had cleared the table, he crouched before her chair. "Then let me be more direct, Kathryn. I know you've been desperate to find a way to leave New Earth and rejoin Voyager. I know you've felt like I settled here too easily and I know you're terribly disappointed that all your work was destroyed in the storm today. But the only reason I've been content to stay here is that, however much I want to return, I want nothing so much as to be with you, whatever that might look like and wherever it might be." Her eyes searched his as he took a deep breath and added, "And, to speak even more plainly . . . I love you, Kathryn. I have loved you almost since I've known you."

Kathryn stared at him in wonder, fighting the urge to lean forward and kiss him. Instead she unlaced her fingers from his, removed his other hand from her cheek, and held both of them loosely before her. "You're talking about a huge shift in dynamics. I'm not saying no mind you-in fact, I want to say yes. It's just..." The corner of her mouth twitched. "Just give me a few days on that one, okay?"

A strange look passed over his face-an unusual combination of disappointment and hope. But then, as he recognized her words as echoes of his own when they'd first arrived, in reference to calling her Kathryn, he chuckled. "It's a deal, on the condition that you don't expect me to spend those days acting like nothing has happened."

She smiled back. "I expect nothing of the kind.'' Then, standing and drawing him to his feet, she added, "But! Right now I think we both need sleep." A small, involuntary laugh escaped her lips. "If such a thing is possible after a conversation like that."

He smiled, lifted both her hands to kiss her knuckles, then said, "I've got just the thing." Finally and somewhat reluctantly releasing her hands, he walked to the replicator and said, "Computer, two mugs of Chakotay tea 1."

Kathryn tilted her head and quirked an eyebrow, trying to hide her smirk as she teased, "Chakotay tea 1? I don't believe I remember a drink by that name."

He brought the mugs over, handing one to her. "My own recipe. A simple warm milk toddy combined with a traditional calming tea my people drink, plus a touch of vanilla, cinnamon, and a couple other seasonings."

She inhaled the aroma deeply, then took a sip. "Thank you Chakotay. It's delicious." After an awkward moment she added, "Well . . . goodnight.'' Then she turned and took the mug with her to bed.

...

Chakotay sat at the computer working on designs and trying-unsuccessfully-not to think about Kathryn. About their conversation more than a week earlier that he'd replayed a thousand times in his head. About how he'd sat at the table after, nursing his tea and surreptitiously watching her through the sheer screen that separated their beds from the rest of the shelter. As far as he could tell by the shadow, she had sat up with both hands wrapped around the mug as she sipped the tea, except occasionally lifting one hand to the headboard. She finished her drink long after he'd finished his, and his was cold by the time he took his last swallow. It was clear she'd finished it by the way she had to tip her head, but she continued to hold the mug, sometimes staring down at it, sometimes staring off into the distance. Once or twice she'd tried to drink more, realized the mug was empty, and gone back to staring.

Eventually she had slept, but he couldn't bring himself to go to his bed. Falling asleep in a bed so near hers seemed like a nearly impossible task. The next morning, she'd awoken him, with a hand on his shoulder, from where he'd fallen asleep at the table.

And so the subsequent week and more had passed. She'd been more affectionate, more relaxed, or perhaps his imagination just told him she was. She'd touched him more often too-he was sure he hadn't imagined that. Sometimes she'd even been subtly flirtatious. But he wanted more, always wanted more, and knowing that she was warming up to the idea was making him extremely impatient. So to distract himself he was working on another design, something for himself and for her at the same time. He double checked a couple calculations, knowing that her brilliant mind would probably catch the slightest problem and she'd want to help fix it. As with the bathtub and the headboard, he wanted this to be something he did to please her. A final input to the computer, then he went outside to find her digging in the dirt yet again.

She was weeding her Talaxian tomatoes. Apparently Neelix had sneaked some seeds into the supplies beamed down to them before Voyager had left orbit. They joked a bit about this contrast to her usual distaste for nature, then he invited her to come inside to see "something."

He felt like a proud child showing off a crayon scribble, eager for her to see the design he'd made but afraid she wouldn't like it.

His trepidation was unnecessary. Her eyes lit up as soon as she saw it. "A boat!" She turned her gorgeous smile to him as he explained his hope that this could aid in her desire to explore the river.

She wiped her dirt-covered hands on a towel as she excitedly added, "We could go camping!"

Chakotay felt the corner of his mouth twitch into a partial smile. This from the woman who readily admitted to always having hated camping. "I'm not sure we could fit the bathtub in the boat."

She laughed. "That's okay, I'll have the river!"

He tried to put the image of her skinny dipping in the river out of his mind. Instead he said, "It sounds fabulous."

"Anyway," she continued, "I'll still have the bathtub to come home to."

They both paused and looked at each other as they realized what she'd said. "Home. When did that happen, Chakotay? When did this place start to feel like home?"

He gazed at her for a moment, weighing his next words carefully, wondering if the timing was right. Then he said it anyway. "I don't know when it did for you. But for me it was home from the very beginning. Just as Voyager was almost from the beginning. Because you were there."

Her eyes widened, and for a moment he feared he had ruined everything. That he'd pushed too much when she wasn't ready yet.

Instead, she took a step closer to him. Stared into his eyes for a moment. Slowly, almost tentatively, reached her hand up to his cheek. He slowly reached his arm around her waist and dared to pull her even closer. Neither looked down, but their other hands other found each other, and their fingers laced together as they had that night a week ago. Kathryn leaned her face toward his, and he moved his own head down, eager for this relationship to finally progress. As their lips touched, she finally broke their gaze as her lids fluttered shut, and she pressed her lips harder against his, standing on tiptoes to reach his height and eagerly drinking him in. But he kept his eyes open, not wanting to miss one expression on what he could still see of her face. He had waited too long for this to risk missing a single moment.

As their kiss moved from the initial tentative touches into a deeper expression of the love he now knew they shared, she released his hand and moved both arms around his neck, fingers playing in the back of his hair as she pressed her body against his. He wrapped his free arm around her waist with the other arm, then suddenly lifted her and spun her around. She broke the kiss to laugh, the most delighted laugh he'd ever heard from that delicious mouth. As he stopped spinning and set her back down, they gazed at one another again, mirror images of both relief and exuberance.

In her husky voice that he had long loved so much, she nearly whispered, "I do love you, Chakotay. So much."

In response, he bent his head to kiss her forehead, her cheek, her other cheek, her nose, then once again full on her mouth. Her mouth was ready and waiting to respond.


	2. Chapter 2

As their boat floated slowly down the river, Kathryn's hair flew loose in the strong breeze. Chakotay reached out and brushed a strand out of her face and behind her ear. A gust of breeze immediately released the strand again. They both laughed as he brushed it back out of her face.

"It's no use," she said. "One thing you learn when you have long hair: the only sure way to keep it out of your face is to tie it up." She moved to do just that, but he caught her hand.

"Must you? It's so lovely flowing free."

She twisted her hand around so she was holding his instead of the other way around, then kissed his palm. "Just until we arrive at the island. It's always windier on the river." She unwrapped a leather cord from around her wrist that he'd given her to be a multi-functional bracelet, necklace, or hair tie, and relocated it for the latter purpose.

They were heading to the island they had discovered on their first boating trip. It had become their favorite picnic spot, and today, exactly three months since their first kiss, Chakotay had wanted to do something special. He'd packed a surprise picnic and it was all she could do not to peek in the basket and see what it was. But she'd promised not to and she wouldn't.

As they came closer to the island, Chakotay maneuvered the rear combination oar/rudder to guide the boat to the perfect landing spot, where the water was deep and they could easily tie to a tree and step on land without having to jump in the water and pull the boat ashore. Chakotay hopped out first and tied the rope, then reached his hand out to Kathryn, who immediately handed him the basket.

"Kathryn, I was offering my hand to you, not the basket," he said as he turned to set the basket down and then held his hand out to her again.

She shook a finger at him teasingly, "We've talked about that."

"Right. You are perfectly capable. But I'm not offering you my hand because I think you can't get out of the boat on your own. I'm offering you my hand because I love you. For all the things we can each do on our own, as long as we're together we don't have to." He punctuated this speech by bouncing his hand a little to emphasize that it was still there.

She smiled. They'd had a variant of this conversation almost every time they'd taken the boat anywhere together, not to mention on other occasions about other things he tried to help her with. "Well, how can a person refuse such romantic overtures as that?" She took his hand and stood.

"I was hoping you couldn't," he said. She stepped on shore, reaching for him with the other hand, then...

"Oh!" With her movement as she leaned to step onto land, the untied end of the boat floated away from shore. She lurched, catching that foot on the edge of the shore as she grabbed Chakotay's shirt with her free hand. But her foot wasn't firmly placed, and her other foot caught the edge of the boat. They grappled at one another for a moment, each trying to regain balance and save the other at the same time, before...SPLASH!

Kathryn came up spluttering, then started treading water as she spun in circles looking for Chakotay. He came up a moment after her. "Oh! Tay, I'm so sorry!"

But he was laughing as he swam over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Then again, I suppose there are some things we can't do well at all, even together."

"Hey!" she protested, but he continued before she could get any further in her protest.

" _But_ I'm glad we're together to not do them well."

"Oh really?" she asked mischievously, carefully placing a hand on each of his shoulders. She leaned in as though to kiss him, then at the last moment, pushed down on his shoulders, lifting herself out of the water slightly as she pushed him under. He came up again, sputtering and laughing at the same time, ready to retaliate.

Eventually they tired of their water play-wrestling and pulled themselves up onto shore. As they lay back on the island grass, they laughed until their laughter faded into contented sighs.

Chakotay became very aware of the eyes of his beloved on him. He turned his head to meet her gaze as he reached for her hand. She rolled toward him enough to give him a very sensual kiss. Then she broke the kiss, sat up, and said "I'm hungry! Let's eat!"

He laid back and groaned. ''How can you do that to a guy?"

"Do what?" she asked innocently as she walked over to retrieve the basket.

Pushing himself up onto his elbow, he stared at her a moment, then said, "You really do have a bit of the wokchaw in you, you know.''

She knelt beside him with the basket, her now-wet summer dress clinging to her thighs. "Wokchaw? What's that?"

"A spirit my people believe in. Kind of similar to an imp. And don't you dare open that!"

She pulled her hand back like the basket held snakes. "Oh, come on, Tay," she said, and he smiled. He'd always hated when anyone tried to shorten his name but somehow when she said it, he found it endearing instead of annoying. "It's time to eat. Surely you can't expect to keep this meal a secret forever."

"Of course not, Katie-kat," he replied, using the nickname she regularly protested against, arguing that she was a dog person. "But I want you to see it all at once, to get the full effect."

"Oh, all right, Should I close my eyes?"

"Nope, walk into the trees. I don't even want you to smell it."

" _What?_ But-"

"No buts! I'll call you as soon as it's ready.''

"Oh, fine. Wokchaw!"

He laughed as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek then darted into the woods, calling over her shoulder, "Hurry, or your imp will succumb to starvation!"

As soon as he was certain she was gone, he opened the basket. He'd designed it to look like a classic picnic basket, but inside were replicated high-tech containers that kept food exactly the right temperature for days on end, and were sealed so well no scent could be detected from outside. In honesty, it was mostly the flowers and champagne he hadn't wanted her to see, as the metal containers would reveal nothing. He spread out the red-and-white checked picnic blanket. He had replicated it specifically, knowing Kathryn's penchant for the classic, which seemed in direct contrast with her love of scientific advances and technological conveniences.

He set two full place settings on the blanket, with a vase of flowers and two candles. Then he opened the champagne to let it breathe, and began putting the food on the plates: a light salad with raspberry vinaigrette, cheese ravioli, and the part he'd feared she would smell, a sauce he'd personally made from the Talaxian tomatoes.

He left dessert hidden for now.

As he set it all out he thought about the words he would say to her. All through dinner he would talk about how much he loved her. About how long he had loved her and how glad he was that she loved him now too. He'd enumerate all the many reasons he loved her. Then, when they were ready for dessert-and he knew she would impishly suggest a dessert less ingested and more physical-he would tell her they should at least have the edible kind first. He would bring out two large slices of chocolate cheesecake, topped with fudge drizzles, raspberries, and, on her slice, a chocolate bow with a diamond ring tucked into the center. He would tell her he knew how silly the idea of marriage sounded when you're the only two people on the planet anyway but that the deliberate commitment still meant something to him and he hoped it did to her too.

He was so focused that he was unaware of an object passing far over his head. With heart beating rapidly from anticipation of events to come, he straightened a few parts of the setting, then prepared to call her to dinner. He opened his mouth, drew a breath and-

"Chakotay! Chakotay!" He jumped up as Kathryn came running out of the woods toward him.

"Kathryn? What is it, what's wrong?"

"The boat! Quickly! A ship crashed!"


	3. Chapter 3

"We're getting close, start looking for a place to land." Chakotay hardly needed Kathryn's instructions, with the smoke and debris rising in a cloud from the trees several kilometers away. But she couldn't seem to prevent herself from directing him. For the first time in months-well, since the storm took out her equipment and she'd been forced to give up her search for a cure to the insect-borne illness that kept them stranded here-she was Captain Janeway again, on a rescue mission.

As they'd headed for the boat she'd seen the lovely dinner set-up and greatly regretted the interruption after all the work Chakotay had put into it. But she couldn't ignore someone who might need their help and she was sure he couldn't either. She had noticed that, while blowing out the candles, he'd also grabbed one unopened container of food. Perhaps his attempt to make sure they still ate something.

After going about 15 kilometers down river, they pulled ashore and began a hike of another kilometer and a half or so. All this was undertaken in near silence, except to caution one another of a branch or hole in the ground, or to verify their direction. Though she couldn't be sure of her partner's thoughts, Kathryn's mind was filled with both hope and fear at the prospect of having other people on this planet with them. She assumed Chakotay's silence was due to similar thoughts.

The trees thinned into an open field, and they spotted the crashed vessel near the opposite treeline.

"I don't recognize the design," Chakotay said. "Do you?"

Kathryn shook her head. "And we don't have phasers." She glanced at him and shrugged. "Here's hoping they're friendly?"

He nodded and they started a cautious walk toward the ship. Kathryn had rarely felt so nakedly vulnerable in all of her Starfleet career as she did walking toward that ship unarmed. But as it turned out, it hardly mattered.

"Hello?" Kathryn called. "We're here to help." No one answered.

Kathryn slid her fingers into a space where the door was crumpled back away from the craft, and indicated with her head for Chakotay to do the same. With some force on both their parts, they managed to pry it open enough to get through. Inside they saw a cockpit and, as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, a pilot and copilot still in their seats, unconscious.

"Forget a phaser," Chakotay said. "What we really need is a tricorder."

"Maybe," Kathryn said, "but we can do some things without that." With no entry ramp, she had to grab the side of the doorframe for leverage to pull herself up into the shuttle.

Chakotay smiled. "Is this my technology-obsessed Kathryn saying this?" She gave a wry smile back and reached a hand to him. He accepted it, a bemused smile playing on his lips. Her own wry smile changed to match his as she remembered their whole conversation about offering his hand to help her out of the boat, but neither mentioned it. Instead, they worked together to pull him into the shuttle too.

"Check that one," she said absently, gesturing, as she reached toward the other, feeling up and down the neck for a pulse. She found none. Then she reached for the wrist, noting that this woman had a very round belly-probably pregnant, unless women of her species were just shaped that way. A glance at her male companion showed that, at any rate, he didn't have such a shape.

She lifted the wrist, wondering whether the green tinge was their natural skin tone or meant they were dead. No pulse anywhere. "Of course," she muttered to Chakotay, "it's almost impossible to tell for sure, knowing nothing about their physiology. But I'm not finding anything."

Chakotay was next to the other alien doing the same thing, but had moved onto other key areas-the crook of the elbow, parts of the hand and shoulder, then onto the bald pate. "This one's alive. Try on top of the head," he said. "Near the fringe."

Kathryn felt by the fin-like protrusion that tan down the middle of the skull and found a very faint pulse. She reached over to the other alien to compare. "Her pulse is fainter than his," she said. "But it's there." Turning the woman's chair so he could see her belly, she added, "And I think she's pregnant. We can't do much more without tools. Any ideas how we can get them back home so we can take care of them?"

They began searching the ship. "Whew," Chakotay said. "Dusty. I don't know if it's dirt that came in during the crash or what, but there's a lot of it. Especially right here." He nudged a dust pile with his foot.

Eventually their search turned up some extra clothing and blankets. Chakotay went out to the woods to find sturdy sticks to wrap the cloths over as makeshift stretchers, while Kathryn continued searching the ship until she found a few components easily altered to make anti-grav units. It was tricky, but they managed to get both aliens onto the stretchers, and then, with Kathryn steadying both stretchers at one end and Chakotay at the other, they maneuvered them both back through the woods to the boat. Once there, they laid the stretchers across the boat with Kathryn sitting between them to make sure neither toppled off. Chakotay rowed them up river-a much tougher task than rowing down had been, but thankfully the river was calm. Kathryn did glance back and notice him giving a wistful gaze at the island when they passed it.

In this way they finally made it back to their shelter several kilometers away. They used the anti-grav to get them off the boat and, one at a time, inside. As they brought the man in, Chakotay froze. Kathryn stopped at her end and looked to see what had caught his attention. She followed his gaze to…

"The shuttle." The type 9 shuttle Voyager had left at their disposal in case they ever found a cure for the disease this environment mysteriously protected them from. They hadn't found a cure, and in fact, had lost the equipment with which to do so to the destruction of a rather unusual storm. Over the months, they had all but forgotten that this lump of metal behind the shelter had an actual purpose.

"Well, that would have made this trip easier, huh?" Kathryn said wryly. "But right now we've got them here and they need our help not our regrets."

She felt badly as soon as she'd said it. When she was captain of a starship, such a speech would have been perfect to rally her people to action. But to the man she loved, who was every bit as capable as she was, it was almost insulting. Still, it was also true, so she continued pulling the stretcher inside, and Chakotay continued guiding from behind.

Once both aliens were settled on bunks, they set to work trying to figure out how to treat them. Kathryn grabbed a tricorder and Chakotay got out the med kit. They scanned them both and found that the male had a concussion, but nothing some basic treatments couldn't fix. But the woman was severely damaged, possibly even on the brink of death.

As Kathryn passed the tricorder over the round belly, she added, "And she's definitely pregnant." She furrowed her brow for a moment, then her eyes grew wide as she looked up at Chakotay. "With triplets."

They treated the male for his injury and then used a hypospray to wake him. His eyes fluttered open, he stared blankly for a moment, then he asked, "Is this the Beyond?"

"No. I'm cap-Kathryn Janeway of-we live here. This is my . . . Chakotay." Boy. For someone drilled in identifying self, ship, and Federation during every first contact situation, adjusting to just saying hi was really hard. "Your shuttle crashed and we went to find you."

"Janelle? Travin? Are they okay?"

They glanced at each other. "We only saw one other person, this lady here." As he started to sit up, Kathryn hastily added, "Carefully! You had a pretty major concussion. We treated it, but you'll still need time to finish healing." Kathryn and Chakotay helped the man sit up, then slowly stand so he could see the other bunk. He sighed with relief. "Janelle." The relief quickly turned to concern, though. "Is-is she-okay?"

"We . . . really don't know. We don't know enough about your physiology," Chakotay said apologetically.

Kathryn added, "Who's Travin? We didn't see another person on board, nor any signs of anyone having left."

"Was there dust?"

Chakotay nodded. "Yeah, the ship was pretty full of-oh no. Are you saying-?"

The alien nodded sadly. "When we die we decompose very quickly, returning to dust as we were once made." He looked at their horrified faces and added reassuringly, "We've found that very few other species decompose as quickly as we do, so I wouldn't have expected you to know to look for that."

"Who was he?"

"He was Janelle's husband. I'm her brother, Kavver. We were on our way to a . . . a sort of nesting ground. A place our species returns to to have our babies. Usually the father of the mother accompanies the couple, but our father died a few years ago so as her brother I took the role. An ion storm forced us off course. We took some damage and thought we could set down on this planet for repairs. I guess the damage must have been worse than we thought. We hit turbulence on the way down and . . . well, that's all I remember."

"Listen," Kathryn said, "I hate to interrupt this because I really do want to know, but right now Janelle's life is on the line, and I assume her babies with her. We really don't know how to treat her injuries. I don't know if we can do anything at all. We know nothing of your physiology. Would you be able to look at our findings and see if you know how to help her?"

Kavver cocked his head. "What's wrong with her?"

They explained the injuries and his face fell. "Her transnublier is detached? The cartilage at the base of the spine? You're certain?"

"Yes, she's bleeding internally because of it."

"Then we can't wait for the nesting ground. We need to deliver those babies now."

"What?"

"She's dying. That didn't detach on accident, it happens when the body is dying and getting ready to decompose. Our doctors have searched for centuries for ways to stop it, but no one has ever been able to stop death once the transnublier detaches. Or, put another way, it only detaches when someone is too close to death for us to stop it. If my niece and nephews are to survive, they need to come out NOW."

Chakotay hesitated, looking closely at Kavver. "Have you ever delivered a baby before?"

"No, but Loburians-that's us, we're Loburian-tend to deliver our litters very instinctively. As long as we can get her labor started, her body should do the rest, even if she's unconscious."

Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other then back at him. "Should?" Kathryn asked.

"Just be ready to catch!"

After preparing some towels as receiving blankets, and a hypospray with the right hormones to induce labor according to what Kavver told them, they were ready to begin. Kavver was right, her body did what it needed to, and it did it well. Only 45 minutes later, they were each holding a fringe-headed, green-tinged baby Loburian.


	4. Chapter 4

Kathryn woke to Chakotay playing with her hair. She'd fallen asleep in a chair next to her bed, sitting watch over Janelle. Kavver was asleep on Chakotay's bed, all three babies lined up sleeping on his torso.

"You never did let your hair back down yesterday," he teased her as he released the cord and pulled her now-disheveled hair back into a smoother ponytail.

"Hard to embark on a rescue with strands of hair obstructing your view," she murmured against the wall she leaned against. He took her hand and led her to the kitchen, sitting her down in front of a steaming mug. "That doesn't smell like coffee."

"It's soup," Chakotay replied as he sat next to her. "It was a good 16 hours ago or so that you told me you were about to succumb to starvation and you still haven't eaten anything. I figured you could at least drink this."

She smiled as she accepted the mug. "You're so good to me."

"Hey," he said, flashing his quirky smile, "someone has to take care of you, since you're a good deal more inclined to take care of everyone but yourself." He bent and kissed her cheek. "Listen, you stay here with our visitors. I'm going to take the _shuttle_ -" he grinned pointedly-"to the crash site to salvage what I can. Kavver's going to need his own home, I should think. Or at least enough space for his own bed, and cribs for his niece and nephews."

"Oh, no, Tay, I don't think that's a good idea." When his eyebrows rose and he glanced around the small shelter, she realized he'd misunderstood. "I mean you going alone. It's Kavver's ship. Shouldn't he go?"

"Do you think he's strong enough? Even the doctor couldn't heal a brain injury right away, and we aren't doctors. He must still have residual brain trauma."

"I know," Kathryn said, and he saw the unmistakable decisiveness of Captain Janeway steal across her face. Not that she was ever indecisive but there was a distinct difference between the decisive nature of his beloved Kathryn, and the command decisions of the captain. "We really should let him go though. His brother-in-law's remains are dust around the ship, his personal effects are probably in there. It just doesn't seem right to go through it without him."

He frowned slightly. "I see where you're coming from. But it could be days before he's healed enough for such a trip. He probably shouldn't even be out in sunlight yet."

She shook her head determinedly. "No, Chakotay. It's his ship. We shouldn't intrude."

He sighed, wanting to find a compromise. "Maybe I could just look around and get an idea of what might be useful, then come back and tell him what I'd like to-"

''I have made my decision, commander!"

Both their mouths opened slightly, and both sets of eyes widened, as they realized simultaneously what she'd said. Somehow, Chakotay managed to recover before Kathryn did. "Have you, Captain?" he asked coldly.

"I-I didn't meant that, Tay. I just-" She walked over to the window and stood facing it. She'd always found it difficult to apologize for grievous errors on her part, but especially if she was looking at the person. "Having other people here, and other species at that-it's made me feel like a captain again. I haven't felt like that for a long time. I thought that part of me was lost, but apparently . . . apparently it can resurface." She gave a small laugh, born more of the tension than of any actual humor. "I guess some habits die really hard."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I know, beloved." He only called her that during particularly tender moments, so she knew he was trying to understand and forgive her for her outburst. But she could also still feel tension in his voice, and his hand on her shoulder was a bit stiffer than usual. Still, she turned to face him as he continued. "Look, the reality is, we can't spend days waiting for him to recover enough. He and the babies all need their own beds. I agree that he should have the chance, but both our bunks are occupied right now. You can't sleep sitting in a chair every night. I can't sleep on the floor every night. It's just not logical or reasonable when I could probably salvage some things that can be used to add onto the shelter by tonight. Or by tomorrow anyway. It'd give Kavver and the babies their own quarters, but we'd still be right here to help him with them."

Kathryn reached her hand up and placed it lightly on his. "You're right. Go ahead." With a wry smile she added, "Not that you need my permission."

"No," he said, then bent to give her a light kiss. "But I do like when we're in agreement."

Chakotay sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, running his hands over the controls for a moment before beginning initial startup procedures. He had to admit, galling though it was for Kathryn to suddenly treat him like a subordinate again, he could understand why she so easily fell back into old habits. He felt just the same sitting in the shuttle. Like he was first officer of Voyager again. Or maybe captain of the maquis ship . . . no. He couldn't let himself think like that or he'd find himself speaking to Kathryn as an enemy. And that would be worse than any subordinate treatment she gave him.

Anyway, it probably wouldn't last long. Kavver may be new to the planet, but once things settled down he'd just become another part of the family, as it were.

Somehow, that thought didn't make him feel better. Rather than dwell on it, Chakotay focused on taking off and heading for the crash site.

When he returned from his first trip, he found Kathryn and Kavver laughing as they worked together to feed three babies between the two of them. Kathryn was holding one, giving him-or her? Which one was that?-a bottle of milk they'd extracted from the still-unconscious Janelle. Kavver held another, trying to wrap his arm far enough around the baby to hold the bottle with the same hand, and in an open supply container lined with blankets and placed on the floor was the third baby, with Kavver leaning over trying to hold the bottle in place. Kathryn was occasionally putting her foot out to prop the bottle up, as Kavver clearly didn't have a good grip on it.

"Here, let me," Chakotay said, heading for the baby, but both stopped him with a quick, "No!"

"'Tay," Kathryn added, "Don't you dare touch these babies! You're all covered in dirt and grease and-good grief, what were you digging around in?"

He looked down and realized they were right. "Well, no sense cleaning up, since I'm headed back as soon as Kavver approves my list." He set a PADD on the table where Kavver could lean over and see. But he couldn't do that while leaning the other way to feed the baby.

"I've got it," Kathryn said, shifting the one in her arms to feed one-handed, and reaching for the bottle of the one in the cradle. With a lot of laughter that Chakotay didn't understand the source of, they managed to adjust so Kathryn was feeding two babies while Kavver held just one. With his freed mobility, he leaned forward to review the list on the PADD, muttering as he went.

"Hmm. Oh, yes, those will be useful. Ooh, good thinking. Of course, of course." When he was done he glanced back up through, then said, "You know, since it sounds like the ship is beyond repair, why don't you get the seats out of the cockpit too? They can serve as extra chairs."

Chakotay cleared his throat. "Yes, I'd . . . I'd considered it, but . . . the dust . . . ."

Kavver cocked his head for a moment in confusion, then understanding spread across his face. "Oh! You're concerned about Taver's remains. I'd forgotten that other cultures view death differently than ours. See, for my species-perhaps because decomposition is so quick, perhaps for other reasons-we view the remains as entirely unimportant. Our grieving process takes place in other ways, but not with any regard for the remains themselves. So please, don't trouble yourself about that. Any dust can be swept out or vacuumed up or whatever else you might do to clean it. Actually-" he shifted his hand again and entered several things onto the list. "Here are some personal things I'd love for you to bring back, if you don't mind. Other than those, you can take anything. I understand from Kathryn-" Chakotay couldn't help but bristle at his use of her first name, though he knew it was how she'd introduced herself so of course that's what Kavver would call her-"that your replicator can recycle things to turn into other useful items? So take whatever you can use, except these things I specified, and then you can just recycle anything else. Oh, but please don't try to bring it all back at once! Just the things you need for now. I'm sure Kathryn and I can help more once my injuries are better healed."

Chakotay felt his eyes narrow slightly and consciously forced them to a more regular shape again. After a calming breath, and while regulating his words as well as he could, he said, "Sure. Thank you." He picked up the PADD, then leaned down to where Kathryn was no longer feeding babies, as they'd finished their bottles and fallen asleep, and gave his love a very deep, very long kiss. "I'll see you when I get back," he murmured, then left.

Okay, he could admit it. He had given Kathryn a longer, deeper "see you later" kiss than he otherwise would have. But honestly, who did Kavver think he was? He'd crashed on _their_ planet! Not that he truly believed anyone could own land, but that wasn't the point. They were here first, and they were treating his injuries, and he spoke like Kathryn's movements were entirely tied to his own. Which, okay, was kind of true since she was the one acting as nurse and monitoring his head injury for healing, or further problem signs. But she could just as easily retrieve things from the shuttle and he could stay with Kavver! In fact, maybe he would suggest that when he got back.

By the time he did get back, though, it was late. Kathryn was asleep on a makeshift bed of blankets on the floor, and Kavver was once again asleep on Chakotay's bunk. Janelle was no longer on Kathryn's bunk, but a pile of dust was. Chakotay considered cleaning the dust up, since Kavver had made it clear that they didn't value the remains. But to truly clean it up would require vacuuming it and he didn't want to make that noise with everyone sleeping. He assumed that Janelle had passed after everyone was asleep or they probably would have already cleaned up the remains.

He shuddered slightly. Kavver might not regard the remains in any particular way, but coming from a culture that had tremendous respect for ancestral spirits, he found the idea of simply vacuuming up remains a bit goulish.

He tapped a few buttons on the replicator to get himself some food without having to speak and risk waking anyone up. As he did so he realized he hadn't eaten since before he woke Kathryn that morning.

He hated his jealousy. He looked back and forth between Kathryn and Kavver and promised himself that he would behave better tomorrow.

And also eat more.


	5. Chapter 5

Early the next morning, Kathryn woke to one of the babies crying. As the other two were still asleep, she gently took that one from Kavver's chest and fed her. While she did, she noticed that Chakotay wasn't anywhere in the room. She furrowed her brow. Had he come in at all? What if he was hurt?

She finished feeding the baby-this was the girl, but none of them had been named yet-wishing she could comm Chakotay and find out if he was okay. Maybe they should start wearing their communicators again.

Just as soon as her "little miss" finished eating, Kathryn put her down in the cradle and rushed outside to look for Chakotay, then stopped and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him coming out of the shuttle with a pile of things. She sauntered over to him. "'Morning, love," she called out, infusing just a hint of sauciness into her voice to match the sway of her stride. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

He barely glanced at her. "A bit. I was eating when I got home and ended up falling asleep at the table. Woke up to the sun, with a crick in my neck and a stiff shoulder, and in my experience, the best remedy for that is to get the muscles moving again." He dropped his pile and headed back into the shuttle.

She reached her hand out to stop him. "I know some other remedies," she said with a smile as she started to rub his shoulders while standing much closer behind him than was actually necessary for reaching his shoulders.

He reached his hand up to catch hers and turned to face her. "Thanks," he said, and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "But I really need to work on this." He released her hand and resumed his route.

She furrowed her brow at his back. "Chakotay, are you angry with me?"

"Nope," he called over his shoulder. "Just planning to have my bed back by tonight. Lots to do if that'll happen." He disappeared inside the shuttle again."

She started to follow, calling out, "You know, I made sure there was space on the blankets next to me. You didn't have to sleep at the-" but before she could finish, she heard a wail come from the cabin-one much too loud to be any of the babies. With a final glance back toward the shuttle, she turned and ran back inside.

What she found was Kavver, standing by Kathryn's bunk where Janelle had been laying. He held one boy in each arm, but was looking at the bed as tears streamed down his face.

Kathryn followed his gaze and saw that Janelle was no longer there. In her place was a pile of dust.

Kicking herself for not noticing when she'd gotten up in the first place-how had she missed it, when she'd looked around the whole cabin for Chakotay?-she rushed to Kavver's side. "I'm so sorry," she said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Before she could stop him, he turned to her and started sobbing against her shoulder. She did all she could to comfort him while making sure the babies weren't crushed between them.

Chakotay turned back to the shuttle without entering the cabin. He would get his meal from the shuttle's replicator.

Despite his resolution of the night before, he felt jealousy welling up in him again. He hated himself for it, especially since what he'd seen through the window was clearly Kathryn comforting a grieving man whose sister had just died. But he couldn't help letting old doubts flow back in. Kathryn had been saying she loved him for the past three months. She'd been his lover and his best friend. She'd been his best friend, in fact, for much longer than that. Most of two years, at least. But she had never shown any romantic interest until they were on a planet where he was literally the only other man.

Now he wasn't the only other man and he just couldn't be sure that he would really be her choice if she actually had a choice.

So he stayed in the shuttle, or worked on the addition, for the rest of the day. He would have to cut a doorway out, but that could wait.

Admittedly, it wasn't very mature or enlightened of him to be avoiding Kathryn. But more accurately, he was avoiding Kathryn and Kavver. Together. And anyway, Kathryn hadn't come back out to him at any point either.

Around dusk, he finished everything except the doorway from the addition to the main cabin. So he couldn't avoid it anymore. He headed for the cabin and opened the door to find Kathryn and Kavver sitting at the table. In the very seats he and Kathryn had sat in on that night he had so treasured, the night he'd told her he loved her and she hadn't said no. Now he wondered why he treasured that night so much. She hadn't said yes then. It'd be another full week before she turned to him for anything more. Maybe she just wanted the companionship. Maybe she didn't really love him, but just decided he wasn't so bad and since they were the only two people on the planet she might as well.

This all seemed more and more likely, especially since she sat in the same seats now, with her hand stretched across the table resting on the hand of another man, while having a deep, serious conversation.

Chakotay cleared his throat. "Good evening."

Kathryn glanced up, but she didn't smile. "Chakotay." She glanced at Kavver. "I'll tell him," she muttered. She gave his hand one more pat, then stood and took Chakotay's arm, leading him back outside.

After walking away in silence for a good many paces, Chakotay couldn't stand the waiting anymore. "Well? What is it?"

She glanced up at him, her face clearly distressed but with no clue to the cause. "It's Kavver. I was doing some further scans on him today, making sure he's healing well, and for some reason, his transnublier has detached too. There's no sign of bleeding in the brain or any other internal injuries or anything. His concussion is actually completely healed, so we have no idea why it changed, but . . . for some reason, he's dying too."

Chakotay stared at her. None of this was at all where he expected this conversation to go. Despite his best attempts to prevent it, he found himself breathing a sigh of relief.

"Chakotay! You're not happy he's-?"

"No! Oh, no! Of course not."

"Then what?"

"I just . . . well, we've been the only two people here for so long. With the prospect of another man instead of me, I just . . . I didn't know if . . . ."

"Chakotay!" she said again, but this time sounding less shocked and almost angry. "Do you really have that little faith in me? Did you really think, after all we've had together, that I was only with you because you happen to be here?" Then she closed her eyes and sighed. "Of course. Of course you did. Because I never told you."

All the defensive protests building through her outbursts dissipated and instead he asked, "Told me what?"

They had continued strolling along slowly while talking, but now she stopped and took his hand. He turned to her. "Tay, when we were on Voyager, I was your captain. My only focus was, and had to be, helping everyone work together smoothly and efficiently to get everyone home. When we got stuck here . . . Chakotay, that didn't make me love you."

He felt like his heart had stopped. All the times she'd told him she loved him, and now she was saying she didn't? "No?"

"No. That week that I had to really think about it and get used to the idea of being together? That wasn't because I had to decide whether I loved you, or learn to love you. It was because I had to get through the mental blocks I'd spent the past two years putting up. Because I've loved you all along. I shouldn't have. I tried not to. There was still Mark, and you were my first officer. But I couldn't help it. I always loved you."

He stared at her again, unsure what to say. Then, suddenly, he knew exactly what to say. "Stay right here. Don't move." He sprinted back to the cabin.

Kathryn was starting to shiver in the chill ask dusk settled into night. Thankfully it was clear so the stars coming out were bright. Both moons were visible, which they'd only seen for the first couple nights after they arrived on this planet. She made a mental note to start charting lunar patterns, then wondered again why Chakotay had run inside, and why she was waiting out here in the cold. She knew he'd been upset recently-well, now she knew that it was his jealousy about Kavver. The idea popped into her brain that he might have booby trapped something and was going to defuse it. She smiled at the absurdity of the idea.

Finally, he was running out of the cabin toward her. She saw the glint of a metal food container in his hands.

"What's that?"

"Dessert. We didn't get to have our picnic the other day but I grabbed the dessert container and kept it cold so it would still be good for eating later."

She stared in bemusement. She had just explained in crystal detail how long she'd loved him, and his response was to feed her sugar? Why had he even saved it? He could have recycled it and then replicated a new one-perhaps at a more opportune time than this. Still, he seemed really excited about it, so she could hardly tell him no. In fact, his excitement was contagious. She wasn't sure why, but suddenly had a tremendous sense of anticipation about this dessert.

He opened the box and lifted a small plate out of one side. "Chocolate cheesecake. This one is for you." She reached for it, but he held it tight, point facing toward him. "Kathryn, before you eat this I have to tell you something. I had all sorts of things planned to say during our picnic, but you're going to have to get the condensed version. I love you. I love you like crazy. I have almost since I met you. If we were still on Voyager, I would love you as much as I do now. Every day I feel like I'm going to burst from how much I love you, and then somehow you do something else to make me love you even more. And I know that it probably doesn't mean as much here, where it's just us-well, I guess now us plus several Loburions-but no matter whether we're the only two people in the entire universe or whether we're in the midst of every person of every species we've ever met, it doesn't matter. I love you, and only you."

He turned the cheesecake toward her, and as she took it she saw a glint of moonlight on a diamond in the middle of a chocolate bow. She froze, staring at it. He kept talking. "I don't know if it matters to you since it's really basically just us here, but . . . it matters to me so I just wanted you to know that I wanted this." He dropped down on one knee. "Kathryn Janeway, will you marry me?"

She slowly pulled the ring out of the middle of the chocolate. Examining it with one eyebrow arched, she said dryly, "Huh. That must be about the stickiest engagement ring ever." His face fell and she couldn't help but laugh. "Well? Aren't you going to put it on me?"

He gave a huge smile as he took it and slid the sticky ring over her finger, leaving a smear of chocolate in its wake. "Is that a yes, then?"

She laughed again, but more out of delight than amusement. "Yes, Chakotay! Yes! Of course I'll marry you!" She dove at him, toppling him over with a kiss that rivaled both her tormentingly sensual one from the picnic-that-never-was and the overly lengthy one he'd given her out of jealousy the day before. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten about the cheesecake she was still holding in her right hand. The result was his head landing in it, but he didn't even react except to return the kiss.

After fully assuring him of her affections, she pulled back to add, "But I definitely intend to eat your slice of cheesecake."

He smiled. "No problem. I'd rather have you any day."


	6. Chapter 6

When Kathryn and Chakotay returned to the cabin, both in need of the sonic shower to remove the varying amounts of cheesecake that by then was smeared on both of them, they were still fairly well entwined in one another's arms and smiling. But the moment they saw Kavver, their faces fell as each was overwhelmed with guilt at being so happy when he'd just received what amounted to a death sentence.

Kavver looked up and smiled when they came in. All three babies were sleeping in the three storage containers that had been converted to cradles.

"Ah, you two look happy," he said calmly, not even reacting to the mess on them. They glanced at each other, then back at him, uncertainly. He smiled even broader. "Please, friends, do not trouble yourselves on my account. I would rather spend my last days seeing you in joy. If you might indulge me, though, can you tell me what has caused this extreme burst of happiness?"

They looked at one another, then Kathryn said, "We just-well, we're getting married!" She tried to sound happy again, since he claimed that was what he wanted, but it was quite difficult.

He looked surprised. "Really? I had assumed you were already bound to one another."

Chakotay smiled, a little more genuinely than Kathryn had, though he was clearly still troubled too. "In our culture, people often form relationships for a short time. Marriage is our way of turning that into a long-term commitment. We've actually only been-uh, 'mates,' as you put it before-for a few months. For our culture it's not unusual to be together that long or longer without marrying, and some people never do." He turned his gaze to Kathryn as he continued talking. "But we decided to have a sort of commitment ceremony as a way of affirming to ourselves and each other that our love is stronger than just the mating of two people who happen to be the only two of their species on the planet. That we're not simply trying to perpetuate a species, but to fulfill one another, to complete one another."

Now Kathryn's smile was genuine as she beamed up at him. "That was beautifully said." After gazing at one another for a moment, she tore her eyes away to approach Kavver, holding her hand out to show him the ring. "See? In our culture it's customary to give a ring as a symbol of agreement that marriage will take place. So Chakotay gave me this one." She glanced at, twitched her mouth in a sheepish sort of way, and added, "He gave it to me inside a dessert. It'll look better once I've cleaned it."

"Well," Kavver replied, clearly amused at this rather eccentric method of betrothal, "I'm eager to hear more about these marriage rituals of your world, but for now I should probably let you two get cleaned up." With a bemused expression he added, "It looks like you both were completely inside this _cheesecake_ ". I'll get out of your way."

""Oh!" Chakotay replied. "Yes, the addition is ready and there's a bed of sorts made up for you. It's not great, but you'll have privacy. Do you want us to keep the babies over here? I mean, with you, um . . . ."

"Dying," Kavver supplied. "Probably within the week. But no, despite the prognosis, I currently feel just fine, and would actually prefer to spend as much time as I have left tending to the needs of my niece and nephews."

"Well," Chakotay said, "Let me just help you carry them over to the addition, since I haven't cut the door in between yet."

"Oh no," Kavver said quickly. "I have absolutely no desire to be washing dessert off these babies and cradles. I can walk around the building a few times. You two head for the shower."

Kathryn's eyebrows arched and she blushed, which made Chakotay's grin spread even wider. He spoke for the both of them with a slightly too eager, "Yes sir!" before pulling Kathryn away with him.

"Chakotay?"

Chakotay started at Kavver's voice from behind. "Oh! I didn't hear you come in!"

"I apologize. I just wanted to talk to you about something alone."

"Certainly." He set down the tricorder he was using for measuring the space, and the pencil he was using to mark where he would cut through the wall, and turned to face Kavver. "I suppose this doorway can wait for another few minutes."

"Marrying Kathryn is very important to you, isn't it?"

"Yes, very. I told you we've only been together-romantically, that is-for a few months, but I've loved her so much longer than that. Marrying her was already something I wanted to do, but now that I know . . . well, it's a long story, but after talking to her last night, yes, it's more important to me than ever. More exciting to me than ever." He smiled distantly for a moment, then drew his thoughts back to the present and cocked his head. "Why do you ask?"

"I have something I wish to offer, which I hope you'll accept."

"What is it?"

"Kavver looked around the addition they were standing in. "This room. I hope you won't delay your marriage for my sake, and I hope you'll accept this room. I won't be needing it much longer, and can easily spend my final days in the smaller room so you two can share a bed-I'm assuming your species shares a bed?" Chakotay nodded. "You can share a bed in here. Since the other room is the wrong shape to even push the beds together in."

"Kavver, that is very kind. But please plan to remain here in the addition for now. We're not quite ready to marry yet."

"What is preventing you?"

"First, we have to decide how to do the ceremony. I hope we can manage that within a couple days, hopefully even to do it while you're stil-l-still with us. Another is that it's very important we learn as much about your people as we can. Once you're gone, we'll have only the knowledge you've given us to guide us in raising the babies."

He paused. Kavver nodded acknowledgement of those aspects, and after another moment's thought, Chakotay continued. "But the other thing is, the wedding night is kind of a big deal in our culture. I want to do something really special for her. And you've just given me an idea. What do you think of . . . ."

"I, Kathryn Janeway, pledge to take you, Chakotay, to be my husband. I pledge to honor you, respect you, love you, and put your needs first. And," she added with a sly grin, "I pledge to treat you as my equal, my partner in everything, and not my subordinate."

Chakotay chuckled slightly at the little addition she'd put on the end. Kavver, seated to tend the babies while facing the very happy couple, smiled too, though suspecting that there was more to that jest than he fully understood. Still, there was something so pleasing about seeing these two so determined to pledge their love even if, soon, no one else in the universe would know they had done it. Well, the babies would grow up knowing it but they certainly wouldn't remember it. And standing there looking so in love under a flower-laden arch of branches Kathryn had prepared for the day, in front of a wooden bench Chakotay had made by hand and then carved intricate designs into with a phaser. It was all absolutely beautiful and endearing.

"I, Chakotay, pledge to take you, Kathryn Janeway, as my wife. I pledge to honor you, respect you, love you, and put your needs first. And," he added with that smirk that melted Kathryn's defenses every time-and she had no defenses right now-"I pledge to always offer you my hand, even when you can do it yourself."

Kathryn released one of her less-than-ladylike bursts of laughter that Chakotay clearly found absolutely endearing. Kavver smiled again. Even for an inside joke, this laughter seemed perhaps more than was necessary, but he was quite certain it stemmed more from their overwelling emotions on this very happy day, than from actual amusement at their little jests.

The couple managed to sober to recite their personal vows, written in secret for the other to hear only on the wedding day. Kavver watched closely for their reactions, already knowing what they were going to say. They had both run their vows past him, apparently more out of excitement than any actual desire for input.

"Tay, I will always love you. I know things may become difficult at times. We certainly both know we've had our share of difficulties already. But I have lived and will always love you through them. It feels like a lifetime ago that you voluntarily destroyed your ship and became my first officer. I feel like I've known you and loved you for my whole life. So for the rest of our lives, for the rest of our _life_ together, I promise to always weather every difficulty with you, and revel in every joy that much more."

Chakotay blinked away tears, and swallowed a few times before he could speak to share his own personal vows. "Katie-kat, you are my precious little imp, my wokchaw. I wouldn't have you any other way. Every day I have known you, I have loved you a little more. It's hard to imagine ever loving you more than I do right now, but I hope, in 50 years, to be standing beside you saying that when I look back at this day I see love that was still in its early stages and will have, by then, blossomed to heights I can't even yet imagine. I promise to include you in every sorrow, every joy, every hope, and every dream for the rest of our lives."

They gazed at one another for a moment, both smiling widely and fighting tears, before Kathryn finally said in a husky whisper, "Rings."

"Right," Chakotay replied, barely louder than she had been. Kathryn pulled a ring off the stem of one of the flowers she held in a small bouquet, then turned to place the bouquet on an intricately-carved bench Chakotay had surprised her with that morning, which sat beneath the arch. Chakotay produced the other ring from his shirt pocket.

Kathryn held up the one in her hand first. It was broad, with a flat outer surface rather than a rounded one. On that surface were very faint engravings. "On your ring are symbols of your people which-assuming the computer told me correctly-mean, 'One life, one heart, one love.'" She slid it onto his left ring finger while saying the only words they'd chosen to keep exactly as they'd known them to be traditionally. "With this ring I thee wed."

Chakotay held his ring up. "I designed your ring at the same time as your engagement ring. They fit together, just like we fit together so perfectly. Together the etchings match up to form traditional Celtic knot designs, in honor of your Irish heritage." He slid the ring on her left ring finger while speaking his own, "With this ring I thee wed."

And, as they'd agreed, they said together, "We now pronounce us husband and wife."

He bent to her as she raised on tip-toe, and they shared their first kiss as a married couple.

When they pulled back, they turned to Kavver and the babies and stood side-by-side, hands clasped together. Kathryn spoke first. "Kavver, babies, I would like to present my husband, Mr. Chakotay Janeway."

Chakotay followed those words with, "I would like to present my wife, Mrs. Kathryn Chakotay-Janeway."

Kavver assured them that this simple and sparsely-populated ceremony was more beautiful than any bonding ceremony of his own people that he had ever witnessed.

That evening, after Chakotay helped Kavver put the three babies to bed (and, for some mysterious reason, refused to let Kathryn help) and Kavver also retired, Kathryn and Chakotay sat on their bench outside, watching the stars. The next day would be filled with more lessons from Kavver about everything he knew to tell them regarding growth and development of his species, and general information about their anatomy. It struck Kathryn that Kavver hadn't looked very sick. In fact, he almost seemed healthier than a week ago when they'd discovered his detached transnublier. But she had just done another check up on him the day before, and the transnublier was definitely still detached.

As they sat, Kathryn leaned back against Chakotay's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. She placed her left hand over his, laced their fingers together, and lifted both their hands to see their rings side-by-side.

"Admiring our work?" Chakotay asked softly.

"Admiring our life," she replied. She let their hands drop and snuggled back, content to let his warmth surround her.

After a few moments thinking over all their time there, she asked, "What do you think the others are doing?"

"Kavver and the babies? Probably sleeping right now. How old did Kavver say the babies in their culture usually are before they're named?"

"One month. Whatever a month is on their planet. But no, I meant our friends on Voyager. I wonder how far away they are, if they've maybe even made it home by now. If B'lanna is still thriving as chief engineer under Tuvok. How much Harry has grown up. How big Ensign Wildman's baby is now. If Kes has explored her telepathic abilities anymore." She sighed as she snuggled in closer. "I just really miss them. I wish they could have shared this day with us. Or that we at least had some way to get a message to them, tell them that we miss them but how happy we are together."

Chakotay kissed her hair and rubbed a thumb across the back of her hand. "I know, beloved. I miss them too."

She turned to face him slightly. "Some good has certainly come of this disease stranding us here. If we were still on Voyager we probably wouldn't be married, or even be pursuing any sort of relationship. I doubt that I would have ever allowed it to happen."

Chakotay laughed. "Hey, I don't know. I hope I would have worn you down eventually."

She laughed a little, but then it turned into another sigh. "I really do miss it. Space. The exploration. There's only so much exploration we can do here."

"I disagree. We've only explored a very small part of this planet, Kathryn. There's a whole lot more planet out there that we haven't even seen yet."

She sighed. "I guess that's what's bothering me. However much I might seem like I've adjusted to this lifestyle, I still feel trapped sometimes." She felt him stiffen a little. "Not by you!" she quickly assured him. "I'm so happy to be with you! Just . . . by the land. Not being able to be up in the stars. From up there you can survey a whole planet from orbit, and very quickly. Down here it's this one tiny bit of a planet. We can't even know if anything is happening on the other side. From what Kavver has said, I think their ship crashed near us because they were specifically looking for signs of life, someone who could help them. But a ship not looking for people, or not in as much control, could land on the other side of the planet, a whole other culture could rise up over there, and we might not even know it was happening."

"True," he said, "but on the other hand, surveying this planet from orbit wouldn't have shown us your little monkey friend that likes to come around."

"Strictly speaking, I don't think Neelix is technically a monkey. But something similar."

"You named him _Neelix_?" Chakotay laughed. "When did you do that?"

Kathryn looked embarrassed. "Uh . . . oh, I don't know, it just slipped in there somewhere along the way. It seemed to fit him."

He chuckled again. "Well, anyway, you never would have interacted with him by doing an orbital survey. You never would have found that one little island. You can't swim in the river of a planet you're surveying from a starship. Picnics on the holodeck aren't quite as romantic as picnics in real life."

"But they do have fewer bugs!"

He smiled. "My point is, even if you and I had overcome our qualms and formed a real relationship on Voyager, it would have been with a very different life than we have here. And I don't mean it would be better or worse. I just . . . I don't want to sacrifice my appreciation of what we have thinking of what might have been."

"Oh, me either," she agreed, turning slightly so she could look up into his face. Her brow was furrowed into her very serious face. "Chakotay, I don't regret it at all. I sometimes feel like I should, after being so focused on getting back to Earth for so long. After so many years devoted to developing my career in Starfleet. But I don't. Not at all. I was being serious when I said I probably never would have allowed a true romantic relationship to develop between us on Voyager. It wouldn't have been appropriate, no matter how much I wanted to, and you know how stubborn I am. If we weren't here, we wouldn't be married right now." She snorted. "Or the unsuspecting sudden parents of three alien babies." Her face was clearly amused but adopted serious facade. "I've always wanted babies, but it never seems to happen the way I expected. First I ended up with alien babies with Tom Paris, then alien babies I'm going to be the adopted mother of." She smiled at her husband. "Good thing they're so adorable, or I might feel put out."

He smiled back, recognizing the jest in her voice. She never felt put out helping anyone. In fact, she rather thrived on it. It was one of the many things he loved about her. And he was eager to raise the babies together. But he had another thought on the subject. "Kathryn, when they're older . . . do you want one of our own?"

She grinned. "One, two, three. Our time isn't taken up by meetings and first contact situations-provided people stop crash landing in our new home! We can have as many as we want."

He smiled, then slid out from behind her. "Hey!" she said. "Where are you going?"

He took her hand, drew her to her feet, and whispered, "Mrs. Chakotay-Janeway, if we're going to make that many babies, I do believe we should practice."

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh really, Mr. Janeway? Is that what you think?"

He swiftly bent and scooped her up into his arms, emitting a small shriek of surprise from her. "I do," he assured her, "and as three infants might keep us from getting much practice for our first year of marriage or more, I do believe we ought to get some practice in right now!"

And he carried her away to the doorway of the addition.

"Chakotay! What areyou doing? Don't go in that way, we'll wake Kavver or the babies!"

He smiled. "No, beloved. They're sleeping in our old room. Kavver has given this to us for our new room, and there's a surprise in there for you."

"A surprise? What is it?" She asked, while silently marveling at his strength as he continued carrying her without faltering.

"You'll see."

They approached the door and she reached her hand out to open it, since his were occupied by holding her. She gasped when she saw what was inside. A beautiful queen-size wooden bed, with a new headboard for both of them. "So that's what you've been working on in secret all week. And I thought it was just the bench."

He kicked the door shut behind him and laid her on the bed. "All for you, my beloved. Always for you."


	7. Chapter 7

_[A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I've added to this story! I still have more to go now that I'm finally working on it again. Apologies that this chapter is a bit more exposition, but it's sort of a necessary interlude before the events of the next chapter.]_

"One." Chakotay said, speaking softly in his wife's ear.

"One what?" she replied, snuggling back against him as they looked out their window.

"One month."

"No." She turned her head to look up at him. "Are you sure? That doesn't seem possible."

"I'm sure. One month ago today, we officially pronounced ourselves married."

"It doesn't seem possible."

"Why? Hardly anything has changed from how we were before."

"And yet in so many ways, everything has." She snuggled back to look out the window again. "I mean, our whole relationship, our entire sense of each other, has changed. The dynamic has changed. We're no longer two lovers who are literally the only companionship one another has on this planet. Instead we're soul mates who have chosen to be together no matter what."

"We were already that."

She recognized the teasing in his voice, and turned in his arms to face him. "You know what I mean," she said with mock sternness. Then she turned serious again. " _We_ know that we're together because we choose to be. We know that the _other_ one chooses that we be. We know that we've both chosen to commit our lives to one another, not just be lovers. Anyone could choose to be lovers if they're the only two people around, but committing to one another has been a choice, and has definitely changed the dynamic of our relationship. I mean, if-" She tried to think of the craziest, most out-there idea she could. "If Voyager returned right now, with a cure that they stole from the Vidiians despite my direct orders, we would return to the ship as husband and wife, and the whole dynamic would be different. I don't think that would have been true even a few months ago."

"And as parents, don't forget."

"Right! Wow. Can you imagine returning to the ship now?"

In response, he bent to give her a deep kiss. "It would certainly be different. But you know I'd go anywhere as long as you're there."

From the other part of the cabin, they heard a baby start crying. "Sounds like one of the boys," Kathryn said. "I'll go."

"Must you? Don't you think that-?" Kathryn had already stepped away from him and opened the door, but the crying stopped.

"Oh, Kathryn, good morning. Don't worry about it, I've got him."

She smiled. "Thank you, Kavver. We were just about to come out for breakfast anyway."

Chakotay stepped out of the room behind her. "Good morning, Kavver. I tried telling her she probably didn't rush out, but she wouldn't listen."

Kathryn went to the replicator to order some coffee-one thing they couldn't make on this planet without the replicator-while Chakotay went to the stove to cook the eggs of a bird they'd discovered. It wasn't quite like a chicken egg, but the birds seemed to lay at least as often and weren't terribly protective of their eggs. Kathryn hypothesized that it didn't need to be, due to the frequency of its laying, but the eggs had proven edible at any rate. Delicious, even.

"I've been thinking," Kavver said, as he settled into a chair with a bottle for the baby, "and I think I've figured out the source of my continued life despite my detached transnublier."

Kathryn perked up immediately. "What's that?"

"Well, you remember we couldn't figure out what was wrong? We were looking for injuries from the crash but there weren't any. Then for the past couple weeks, as it's become apparent that I'm not deteriorating from any injury or illness, we've been looking for the reason it might have detached despite that. But what if it's something else entirely?"

"Like what?"

"That disease you told me about. The one keeping you here, the insect bite. What if I have that same thing?"

Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other with wide eyes and slightly open mouths for a moment, before Kathryn leaped up to grab the tricorder and began scanning Kavver. "You do. You have the same disease. How did we not notice this before?"

"Well, you weren't looking for it."

"But I should have been. As a scientist, I should have been. And the information is all right there on the tricorder. I should have noticed."

Chakotay put his hands on her shoulders, silently reminding her to calm down. "Beloved, it's a matter of why someone is alive. It's a clear sign that he'll probably stay alive for a good long while more. This is a good thing."

She nodded, though clearly still reeling from the suppression of her scientific side.

"Kavver, how did you think of that anyway?"

"Well, I was actually thinking about the preservation properties of this world. Whatever it is that keeps us from succumbing to the illness while we're here. I was wondering . . . well, Janelle stayed alive for several rotations after the crash. For having her transnublier already detached, a sign of decomposition beginning . . . that's very rare. She should have died within the first rotation after her transnublier detached." He shifted uncomfortably as he realized how that sounded. "I mean, not that she _should_ have, but scientifically, medically, it would be expected. In fact, more than 2 rotations is, I believe, the longest anyone from our species has ever lived after the decomposition has begun. Well, except for me, and apparently I'm not actually decomposing, my body just expected me to and prepared me thusly. But if we can find the exact information, the precise reason . . . it could mean a big difference for my people. It could mean the opportunity for loved ones to travel to the death bed and have an opportunity to say goodbye to the person before they turned to dust."

"But only if we can find a cure for the disease."

"That's right."

"I tried, though, Kavver. I tried for months before my insect traps were all destroyed. Now I have no way left to try to find a cure. I don't have the equipment."

"Well, I had a thought about that too. A couple of thoughts, really. One is that these babies are, essentially, going to grow up with three parents. And while I firmly believe they need one of their own species, they probably don't need three parents hovering over them all the time. Now, I know enough of your personalities to know that you both work hard, and are exceptionally intelligent people. So while I'll be the only Loburion to them, I'd still rather they learn other things-maths and sciences and such-from the two of you. I'll remain in the role of uncle and, uh, sort of a supplementary parent, but you two are, in so many ways, in the right position to actually parent these children. And of course there's a good deal of work to be done around here, especially with an extra adult around. We'll need more space, but there again, I saw Chakotay build that extra room, the bench, the bed. All in a very short amount of time, mind you. So I know who should be responsible for building, and all I can do is assist. And there's the matter of food. But again, I've seen Kathryn's gardening skills, and I'm happy to assist there too, but I'll still only be assisting. You two don't really need me to take over any of the things you already do. But it does seem that the matter of scientific research has somewhat fallen into obscurity, and I'm sure you would both agree that that shouldn't happen. So, if you don't mind, I'd rather be something of a, uh, head researcher." He held up his hand as though to ward off objections, though neither had processed enough to actually offer any thought, objection or otherwise. "Now, I know you're both scientists, and probably more so than I am. In fact, I'll rely on what you already know and any pointers you can give me. I've always had an interest in science, but it wasn't my profession, so I'm sure it'll be a struggle. But even if I get on very slowly, well, that's a good deal faster than if no one is continuing the research at all. What do you think?"

He sat very nervously, and Kathryn suddenly realized why. She deliberately relaxed the tense muscles in her face and carefully set the tricorder down, releasing her knuckle-white grip on it. "I think it's an excellent idea."

"Indeed? Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. Though I do hope you'll stay as involved in these children's lives as Chakotay and I. Head researcher, I am happy to call you, but only a 'supplementary' father sounds a bit insulting."

He smiled. "I'm happy to be as much a second father to them as you want me to be, but I do hope you'll have them call me uncle. After all, it is what I truly am to them, and having two people called father might be a bit much. And," he added with a wink, "I'm not sure how Chakotay would feel about them calling you mother and me father."

They all laughed. "I'm not sure how I'd feel about it either," Kathryn said happily. "You're great and all, Kavver, but I did marry this man for a reason!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Janelle!" Kathryn called. "It's time to start school! Your brothers are waiting for you!"

Janelle came running, the patter of her webbed feet on the floor announcing her entrance. Her pudgy cheeks were flushed blue as she entered. This might have startled Kathryn if she hadn't known that her adopted children had blue blood under their green-tinged skin. "Sorry, Mommy! Daddy's building my new room and I just wanted to see."

"I know, sweetpea, and I know it's exciting. But Daddy needs to work now. You three have math to study!"

She groaned. Travin and Tom laughed. They knew quite well that their sister was the best scientist amongst them but heartily wished science didn't include so much math. Travin was the mathematician of the family. Tom was decent in all the subjects but had a greater bent toward creating than discovering.

Really, though, all the Loburian children were good at every subject. She only hoped she could teach them to their full potential. They were excelling at everything already.

She absently placed a hand on her flat belly as she proudly considered her children.

Janelle looked at her. "Mommy, why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Putting your hand on your tummy? Do you feel okay?"

She smiled at her very observant daughter as she consciously dropped her hand to her side. "Yes, I'm fine. Just . . . thinking."

"About what?"

"School! That's what. We need to get started. So! Radial fractions. Who remembers what we learned about them yesterday?"

Chakotay was hammering two boards together when he heard a shrieking sound, nearly making him fall off the ladder. As it was, he dropped the hammer, and heard a very different shriek.

"Kathryn! What are you doing down there?"

"Just coming to talk to you for a minute! I didn't know I'd almost be murdered for it."

He came down the ladder. "I'm sorry, beloved. Apparently Neelix is back. He shrieked at me out of the tree, making me drop the hammer, hammer almost hit you, you shrieked-" He paused and shrugged. "And I guess now you're all up to speed."

"I was already up to speed, Tay," she said with a smile. "I was here when he shrieked in the first place." She held a glass out in her hand. "I thought you might be thirsty. Brought you some lemonade."

"Thanks." He took a gulp of it, then said, "But aren't you supposed to be teaching the children right now?"

She smiled. "I have. They're working on their PADDs right now and then I'll check their work after. So I thought I'd steal a few moments with my husband in the meantime."

He smiled and gave her a quick kiss. As he was pulling back, she grabbed his head and pulled him back in for a longer one.

"Mmm, that was nice. You should come interrupt my work more often."

"Oh, no, I need you to stay focused. It's important you finish this room. The kids are 6 years old now. Too old, in my opinion, for Janelle to share a room with her brothers and uncle."

"I know," he replied. "You've said as much."

She took a deep breath. "And . . . while you're at it, maybe you could build a third bedroom?"

He furrowed his brow. "Why? Expecting company?"

She took his hand and looked him in the eye, eager to see every nuance of his reaction. "Expecting . . . but not company." She placed his hand on her belly.

He stared for a moment, processing. "You-really? You're sure?"

She smiled. "I triple checked the tricorder. Verified it wasn't malfunctioning. I'm definitely 5 weeks along."

He laughed and lifted her in a hug, then gently set her down saying, "Oh! I need to be careful!"

"I'm pregnant, Tay, not glass."

"I know, it's just-I mean, it's been four years of trying . . . I'd started to think . . . ."

"I know," she said. "I had too." She looked up at him, a tear running down her cheek. She quickly brushed it away and said, "Ugh! Sorry. Pregnancy hormones, I guess."

Despite his smile, she noticed his own eyes were misty. "I guess they must be contagious."

She leaned in and kissed him again, a deep kiss that said she'd rather stay with him than go back inside. Then she pulled back, sighed, and said, "I guess I'd better go inside and see how they're doing. Do you mind if I tell them? Apparently I've developed an unconscious habit of putting my hand on my stomach-you can guess who noticed that."

"Ah, the ever-observant Janelle, I'd wager."

"Got it in one. So I'd rather tell them before they figure it out on their own and think we were hiding something from them."

Chakotay nodded. "They're smart kids. But here, I'll come with you. I want to see their reactions too." He took her hand and they headed inside. On the way he added, "And Kathryn? I'll build as many rooms as you think we need, but I doubt the baby will be anything other than a boy or a girl. I bet they'll be able to share a room just fine."

"We'll talk about it later," she assured him.

"But why?" Janelle asked as soon as she heard the news. Kathryn and Chakotay glanced at each other.

"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked.

"I mean, _why_ , Mommy? Why do you want another baby? You have all three of us already."

Kathryn and Chakotay glanced at each other, uncertain. She had expected excitement, especially from Janelle. "Well, we love you three so much, we want to have ever more children to love."

"But what if you run out?"

"Run out of… children?"

"Of love." She spoke in her characteristically matter-of-fact way, but her eyes were very concerned.

"Oh, baby," Kathryn said, kneeling to hug her. "We won't run out. I promise."

"But how do you know?"

"Because-We just-" She looked at Chakotay for help."

"Have I ever told you the story of how my people first received love?"

She shook her head seriously, and the boys crowded in to hear too.

"When my ancestors were wandering the cold lands, they had no love. They fought, brother against brother, father against mother, parent against child. Then the sky spirits came and guided the ancestors to a new place, a place of warmth and food. They taught us many of their ways, but even though food was plentiful, still my people fought. They fought over the fruit and meat, and over the best places to live. Their hatred was destructive. The crops began to wither due to neglect. The thinner the harvest got, the more the people fought, and the more they fought, the thinner the harvest got. When the sky spirits found out what was happening, they taught the greatest gift. They taught the people to love, by considering the needs of others before their own. As they let go of their selfish tendencies, an amazing thing happened."

"The crops grew!" Tom volunteered.

"That's right! It started with just a couple people loving each other, and then that spread, and the more they loved the more crops grew. And do you know why?"

Janelle nodded. "Because when they were fighting they probably weren't working together to tend the crops, and when they got along they worked together."

"Um… yes, but in a broader sense, because the more love you give, the more love you have to give. Instead of running out, the love grows."

"Oh. Kind of like the crops grow." She nodded seriously again, then suddenly leapt at Kathryn and gave her a big hug. "How long until the baby is born so we have someone else to love?"

She smiled. "A long time, darling. But we'll start loving the baby now."

"Is it a girl baby or a boy baby?"

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay, who started at the question. "I can't believe you forgot to tell me!"

"I can't believe you forgot to ask! Do… do you want to know?"

He nodded eagerly. "Definitely. No, wait! Let me see for myself."

He grabbed a tricorder and scanned his wife's belly, studying the readout carefully. His eyes misted up and he grabbed her in a hug.

"What? What is it?" the kids all asked.

"A girl! A gorgeous, wonderful, adorable baby girl just like her mommy!"

"And who's to say she won't look like her daddy?"

"Oh, I hope not. I hope she looks just like you."

The kids all giggled as their mommy and daddy kissed.


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: This is kind of a fluffy chapter. It does address something I wanted to address as an actual concern they have, not something that would just pop up later without their ever having considered it, but other than that little detail it doesn't involve much actual progression forward. But bear with me because I swear, more chapters are coming! I just have a bit of a hiccup for chapter 10 that I'm still trying to work out to make sure it's the best it can be for you all before I post it. Thanks for reading!_

Kathryn gasped as she sat up in bed. Chakotay started awake at her sudden movement and reached for her.

"Are you okay, love? What is it? Is it the baby?"

She automatically started rubbing her daily-enlarging belly. "No, no, it's… well, yes, but not in the way you mean. She's fine." He wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled in as well as her girth of six months' gestation would allow.

"Tell me." It was spoken gently, a request not a command.

"I just had a… weird dream." She sighed and started speaking slowly, but quickly picked up speed until everything came out in a flood. "'Tay, we're the only ones on this planet. As far as we've been able to discover at least, even exploring with the shuttle. The kids are six, almost seven. This little lady will join us soon. Kavver hasn't found a cure for the disease and between schooling and gardening and being pregnant I haven't had time to help him as much as I'd like, not to mention how much slower going it is with only being able to replace half the equipment. And the kids aren't going to stay little forever. I mean, how much opportunity will there be for them to...to…." She broke off, fighting back tears. He hugged her closer.

"Katie-kat, what did you dream?"

Kathryn let out a short laugh and jammed the heel of her hand across her cheekbone, harshly wiping away her tears. "It's so stupid. I know it's just hormones and the feelings within the dream making it seem like such a big deal."

Chakotay pulled back a little to look directly into his wife's eyes. "Kathryn, regardless of the source, this is obviously weighing on you. I can't help you carry our daughter. At least let me help you carry this."

She smiled at that. "Oh, it's just… they won't be little forever, you know. They'll grow up, and… well, grown ups take other interests… sexual interests." She took a deep breath. "I dreamed that the kids were all grown up, including ones not yet conceived. A whole brood of them, I'm not sure how many. And then there were grandchildren and great grandchildren and… Chakotay, they were monsters! Every successive generation more monstrous from inbreeding. And the thing is… It's true! I mean, no matter how many children we raise, if we never find a cure there are only two possible outcomes- they die childless, or procreate incestuously. Best case scenario, cousins marry. What do we tell them when they're old enough for this stuff, 'Tay? I mean, we can't let the biological siblings mate, obviously. What about between the two species? Would the two even be genetically compatible? And if they are do we encourage relationships? Discourage them? And then what about their children? If we're _still_ stuck here then, what does that mean for them? What are we _doing_ here, Tay? Raising up a generation that will be trapped forever?"

Chakotay was silent so long Kathryn looked up to see if he'd fallen asleep. He smiled at her. "Still here. Just processing everything you said to be sure I respond correctly. My gut reaction is to say, yeah, you're borrowing trouble from _way_ in the future and worrying about things we may never have to worry about. But I also don't want to dismiss your concerns out of hand, and you've reminded me...we have no idea how Loburian sexuality works. At all. When we thought Kavver was dying, he taught us all about Loburian infants-well, almost all." They both smiled, remembering things Kavver had never thought to mention-didn't all babies turn bright green when they cried? And of course they went from not walking to walking almost instantly. What is "crawl"?

"But," Chakotay continued, "we never asked about the opposite end of the child-bearing spectrum-the part where they actually conceive the children, or any romantic elements. It hardly seemed pertinent given that they were the only newborns."

Kathryn nodded against his chest. "I honestly never even thought of it."

"Me either," he said with a smile. "But the good news is, Kavver is still around and we can still talk to him about it. In the morning, okay love? Let's get some more sleep first."

She nodded again, but didn't remove her head from his chest. Nor did he particularly want her to. Instead, he slid down a little to snuggle back into the bed, pulling her with him, and fell asleep breathing in the smell of his beautiful wife's hair.

Kathryn stayed awake a little longer, listening to the rhythm of her husband's heartbeat and his steady breathing become slower and more even as he fell into slumber. She forced all memories of the dream from her mind and fell asleep focusing almost entirely on these rhythms, distracted only by the occasional wiggle of the child within her womb.

The next morning, after Chakotay taught the kids their history lesson, he left them with assignments, found Kathryn in the garden, and together they went to the outbuilding where Kavver did his experiments. They sat down with him and explained the whole issue. Kavver listened with his characteristically unwavering attention, never reacting to anything until they were done. Chakotay had often found himself wondering if this was characteristic of his entire culture, or just Kavver's personality. Either way, Kavver said nothing until they were completely done presenting all their concerns. Then he spoke.

"In Loburian culture, bonding means much more than simply mating for procreation purposes. I believe it is the same in human culture?"

"Usually," Kathryn agreed, "though historically that hasn't always been the case in every human subculture. But yes, generally it means a lot more than just procreating."

"I thought as much, based on your bonding ceremony-your wedding, I believe you called it? There was much in there about your commitment to one another, irrespective of potential offspring. So, to that end, I believe the children should be allowed to seek one another romantically if they so choose, but not expressly encouraged or discourage in this endeavor."

"But how . . . I mean . . . ." Kathryn paused, reorganized her thoughts, then tried again. "I mean, when do we start . . . teaching them about such things? I mean, I don't know about Loburians but if we don't teach this little lady-" she patted her belly- "or any future potential children, the reality is, untaught humans tend to, um, follow certain natural instincts and . . . discover certain pleasures on her own."

Chakotay stifled a laugh and Kathryn tossed him a glare. The laugh could not long be stifled, and blasted out of him. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Katie-kat, it's just . . . you look so uncomfortable with the whole topic! For someone who told Tom so point-blank that maybe it was you who initiated-" Chakotay broke off laughing again and it was several seconds before he could collect himself. "I just never would expect you to be so uncomfortable with all this!"

She whacked his arm. "That was different. I was his CO and clearly had to keep him fully aware that I was in charge. This is talking about what children themselves will do."

Chakotay was still chuckling but gave a sincere answer. "No, it's talking about what adults will do, who happen to still be children right now."

Kavver had been watching this entire exchange with vague bemusement, apart from some slight alarm that crossed his face at the mention of Tom before he apparently realized that Chakotay was referencing Kavver's nephew's namesake, not the boy himself. Now he spoke again. "I do not know how it works for human children, but based on the length of time it takes this planet-this New Earth, as you call it-to rotate around this star, I would estimate the children will be around 20 years old before any of them take an interest in sexuality. The girl maybe slightly sooner. How old are your human children likely to be?"

"Oh . . . well, that's a tough one to be sure of," Kathryn said. "Typically within the teen years, but whether earlier, around 11 or 12, or not until later-15 or 16 or even later-really depends on the child. Though it's also true of humans that the females are typically aware of such things a little sooner than the males. And the males tend to be . . . weird . . . about it."

Chakotay all but exploded trying to keep in another laugh.

"Then I imagine we'll have time to figure out exactly what's to be done, don't you think? Never fear, Kathryn, Chakotay. Perhaps we'll find a solution to the illness, or the secret of the environment that keeps us well here, and the children, when grown, may seek mates elsewhere."

"How is your research going, anyway?" Kathryn asked, suddenly fully in scientist mode. "I haven't heard a specific update from you in a while."

"Well, ever since we finally found the correct insect, it's been very slow going. I still haven't been able to isolate the disease itself, and even then I'm not entirely sure where to go from there."

"Have you tried changing the insect's environment yet?"

"I meant to talk to you about that. We'd discussed it, but I'm just not sure how to go about it. What do you suggest?"

"Well, you could-"

Chakotay left the lab, leaving the scientist and her apprentice-turned-head-researcher to talk shop. He had things to build, and children whose lessons needed to be checked. The question of sexuality would, as Kavver rightly pointed out, be solved sometime in the next decade or so, but didn't have to be resolved right now.

Besides, somehow he needed to finish all the building new structures and shoring up old structures before the plasma storm season started in about 3 months….

3 months. Crap. He glanced at the blue sky as though it could somehow give him a clue about the events that would take place 3 months in the future. Until that moment, it hadn't occurred to him exactly what time of year his first biological child was due to be born.


	10. Chapter 10

Kathryn had known all along exactly what time of year her baby was due. She hadn't pointed it out to Chakotay because she knew how he'd react. Once it had occurred to him, she'd downplayed it as much as possible. "Oh, yeah, I know."

"You _know_? And you didn't _mention_ it?"

"I didn't mention how many moon phases we'd go through while I was pregnant either," she'd replied, hoping she sounded teasing rather than flippant. "These are things we've been charting for coming up on 7 years now. I figured you might know." She was doing her best not to lie, but with the last sentence she was certainly skirting the truth. She had considered that he might know and be trying to protect her from worry just as she was trying to protect him, but she hadn't really believed it.

He hadn't been fooled. "If you really thought I'd known, I'm sure it would have come up in conversation sometime. You were deliberately keeping it from me, weren't you?" He leveled a glare at her and arched an eyebrow, to which she responded with a neutral expression and a slightly arched eyebrow of her own, but no words. Finally, his gaze had softened under hers and he'd let the matter drop.

Unsurprisingly, though, he hadn't let the overprotection drop. His preparations for plasma storm season were over the top. While the children helped her gather all their vegetables into the pantry he'd built on one side of the house, Chakotay was shoring up and reinforcing every possible nook and cranny of their home. While Kavver was gathering necessary research equipment into the main house and locking down everything in his laboratory, Chakotay was surveying the treeline to take down every possibly unstable limb, and Kathryn only barely stopped him from clearing away all trees within a two-kilometer radius. When they all gathered extra water into the bath house that Chakotay had built around Kathryn's tub and connected to the main house with a walkway, Chakotay insisted the usual amount wouldn't cut it and single-handedly collected twice that.

By the time the first storm struck, Kathryn was about to lose her mind. So as they hunkered down in the house, boards nailed over windows and everything either secured or moved to the floor, and played games to pass the first storm, Kathryn was mentally praying to every deity she didn't believe in that she wouldn't go into labor.

She didn't.

The second storm passed similarly, and the third. So did the fourth. And to everyone's surprise, there was a fifth.

After two weeks of storms, Chakotay said, "That's got to be it, right?"

"We've never had five storms in a season," Kathryn replied in something of an affirmative. "This is our 7th storm season by now. Not enough for empirical data, but certainly enough to see patterns."

"They also usually only last a week," Kavver added. "Two years ago we had that fourth storm a week and a half after the first, you remember? But two weeks apart is the longest it's ever been."

"So we think we're out of the woods?" Kathryn reiterated.

"I think so," Kavver said.

"I'd like to wait a bit longer," Chakotay said cautiously. "Before removing all the precautions, I mean."

Kathryn sighed. "'Tay, the baby will come when she comes. Don't worry so much."

"I know," he said, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Can you blame me for worrying? We may have three kids already, but this is the first time I've known about it ahead of time, much less actually been present and waiting for the little one's arrival. We don't have the doctor or anyone else to help us. I just . . . I want to know she'll be safe."

"Hey, it's my first pregnancy too," Kathryn countered.

"Except those babies with Tom Paris," he teased back.

She rolled her eyes. "Those hardly count any more than your baby with Seska-" She clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as they took in the expression on his face, like a slap. "Oh, 'Tay! Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-"

He put a hand to her arm. "Don't. It's fine, I know you didn't mean that." He managed to give her a weak smile as he said, "I'm going outside to check on the latest damage. I won't go too far, don't worry. I really do think it's still a good idea to give it a few more days before we risk going far."

Kathryn managed a twitch of a smile in return as she said, "We always do, don't we?"

But as soon as he'd walked out the door, she buried her face in her hands. The children were still reading or playing in their bedroom, oblivious to the conversation the adults had been having in the main part of the house. Kathryn tried her best to sink down into a chair, but her advanced pregnancy - now several days beyond her due date, by her calculations - made that rather difficult, and the best she could manage was a weary combination of an uncomfortable lowering and a plop. She dropped one hand to the table, leaning her head forward into the other hand.

Kavver sat across from her and placed a comforting webbed hand over her slender fingers. "May I ask what that was about? Clearly the teasing about one set of babies doesn't compare to this other baby about which I've never heard."

She slowly slid her hand outward, rubbing fingertips across her eyes and landing with them pinching the bridge of her nose. "Seska. She was a former shipmate. They were . . . involved, before our crews merged into one. He actually broke it off with her around the same time we were pulled into the Delta quadrant. We haven't talked a lot about it, I'm not even sure if it was before or after being pulled in by the Caretaker's array. I do know that she tried to win him back shortly before she . . . um, before she left the ship. And he refused."

Kavver patted her hand reassuringly, silently encouraging her to go on, and in the back of her mind Kathryn wondered again if this fabulous listening habit was endemic to his species or just his personality. Only one of the children - Tom - showed similar habits, so if it was a species-wide trait it must be at least partly a learned trait, and not something Kathryn and Chakotay were teaching properly.

"Anyway," she continued, finally drawing her hand down her cheeks and then removing it from her face, "it turned out that Seska wasn't actually the species we thought she was - a species called Bajoran - at all. She was a Cardassian, the species Chakotay and the other Maquis were fighting against. The Cardassians had enslaved the Bajoran peoples, they had forced the Federation's hand on a treaty that was far more beneficial to them than to us -" She stopped and smiled a little. "Of course, as someone sent to uphold that treaty, I wouldn't have possibly admitted that at the time that I was trying to capture Chakotay's ship." Kavver smiled and nodded. Over the years, he had heard all about that adventure that had resulted in their crews combining.

"So when we found out Seska was a spy, and that she was actively working with the Kazon - that species we were trying to prevent from exploiting the Ocampa - when we realized she was working with them, she initiated a sophisticated beam-out procedure and went to the Kazon ship, where she reverted to her Cardassian DNA.

"A while back, not long before we ended up here, she managed to enact another sophisticated procedure that involved stealing Federation technology while making us look like amateurs. Chakotay still felt responsible for having brought her on the ship in the first place - like he somehow should have known she wasn't who she claimed, even though none of us ever knew, not even her closest friends. But he's so hard on himself, and so honorable, and he took it upon himself to go after her. On that score, suffice it to say that he was captured, eventually we got him back, and he and I had a bit of a trust issue to get over because I felt betrayed. But the ultimate betrayal came from Seska, who sent Chakotay a message to say that when he was unconscious at one point, she'd stolen his DNA and impregnated herself with it."

Kavver gasped. Kathryn nodded. "Yeah. We felt the same way. And the thing is, right around the time we got stranded here would have been within maybe a month or two of her due date. We've never really talked about it, but the reality is that we have no way of knowing if the baby was born, if it was a boy or a girl, or really, if she was even pregnant at all, though I can hardly imagine what she would gain by claiming to be pregnant with his child when she wasn't pregnant at all."

Kavver's fin twitched a little, in what Kathryn recognized as the Loburian equivalent of a furrowed brow. "May I ask - why have you never talked about it?"

She shrugged. "He still blames himself, and knowing him, he probably feels some guilt over not being there to raise the child too. Not to be with Seska, of course, but maybe to rescue the baby - well, child now, close to the same age as the triplets - rescue the child from its mother's clutches and teach it love and kindness. But we can never do that, and in all likelihood, we'll never know what happened. It's much different than the babies I had with Tom, you see. We weren't really ourselves at all - we were some super-evolved creature, though to be honest, from the reports it almost sounded like we'd gone the opposite direction to _un_ evolved!" She laughed a little.

Kavver laughed too. "Oh, Kathryn," he sighed, giving her hand another pat. "You and Chakotay went through so much. I know this baby will be good for you both. I don't doubt your love for the children at all, but having a baby that's the result of your combined love, and a baby that's your own species . . . that's good too. And while you may not love the triplets less than your biological offspring, you also can't see the results of your joining in them."

She smiled. "That's where you're wrong, Kavver. Our joined love makes a difference in all their lives, and molds and shapes their personalities just as surely as our DNA combining molds and shapes this little one -" She was at the end of her sentence anyway, but bit it off so abruptly it sounded like she'd intended to continue. But she was frowning instead, a hand on her stomach.

"Kathryn? Are you alright?"

"I . . . I think so. That was just really weird. I've been having those practice contractions I told you about, but that one was just a lot stronger. That's been happening the past few days, it was just . . . different. I don't know how to describe it. Like a wave coming around me from both sides at once. Like it was more all-encompassing instead of localized like I'm used to. Just . . . different."

"Would you like to lie down? Or do you need something to eat?"

She contemplated for a moment. "I think I need a drink - just some water, please. And then I need to pay a little more attention."

"To what?"

"Umm . . . well, according to everything I read in the database, I think we're looking for regular time between contractions, then for that time drawing closer until they're just a couple minutes apart."

He got her water, then sat and watched while she drank a few sips.

"You can't just use your tricorder to see if you're in labor?"

She shook her head. "It'll tell me if my muscles are contracting and if the cervix is ripening and about hormone levels, but those are all things that can happen without real labor. The key is knowing the time between - oh! It's starting, check the time!"

He dutifully did so, then added, "That doesn't seem long from last time.

She nodded. "I noticed that too."

"Perhaps I should call Chakotay back inside?"

"No, not yet. Let's finish timing this one first."

He nodded, then waited as she drank a few more sips of water and they waited. And waited. Kathryn smiled wryly as she realized this was the only time she thought Kavver actually looked impatient. Just as she was about to mention it, she felt another tightening and gave another gasp.

"Oh! How long, how long?"

"Two minutes and twenty-three seconds."

Her face was in a grimace for several seconds as she focused on breathing through the tension. It was certainly not the most pain she'd ever been in, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. As soon as it eased up, she opened her eyes and looked up at Kavver. "Get Chakotay."

Kavver was starting toward the door while Kathryn ran the tricorder over her stomach, checking those other things she'd mentioned, especially cervix dilation.

"Tell him I'm 3 centimeters -" she began.

At the same moment, the door flew open and Chakotay was shouting, "The leaves are turned up like another storm is -"

They both stopped speaking at the same time, staring at one another wide-eyed. Then Chakotay groaned. "I knew it. I knew it!"

As it turned out though, it didn't matter. Though the house shook around them, the children tried to distract themselves with games, and Kavver tried to find every conceivable way to be of help without ever seeing Kathryn's exposed body, the baby came into the world inside their little home with no regard at all for what was happening outside of it. As she slid into her Daddy's waiting hands, after 4 hours of labor, no one was paying attention to what the storm was doing outside. They had secured the house well, they had resecured things that came undone in previous storms, and they were focused entirely on that little bundle of joy.

As Chakotay handed her to his wife, they all had tears in her eyes, and Kavver called softly to the other room, "Tom, Janelle, Travin! Come see!"

Three sets of webbed feet pattered toward them, and came to an abrupt halt as three sets of wide eyes took in the little bundle in their Mommy's arms before them.

Kathryn smiled at her older three children. "Meet your new baby sister, B'Elanna Gretchen Chakotay-Janeway."


End file.
